The Traversing Gamer: Side Stories
by Noble the Unknown Primordial
Summary: This story will work alongside The Traversing Gamer, and the short chapters will be in synchronization with the main story away from Michael's POV. All chapters were referenced one way or another from the original story and will show the POV of other people or 3rd person view of what's happening on the sidelines of the original story. It will mostly be the POV of the Imperium.
1. Orbital Drop Defense Tower

**Training Facility Dome 04, Thessaly  
1/21/1 RTE (Return of The Emperor), 09:22**

"Prepare for Orbital Drop Defense Tower testing in two minutes, report to your designated stations. I repeat prepare for Orbital..." The scientist at the booth connected to the ceiling repeated.

In the training facility, Galatic Imperium scientists prepared to test the first design of an ODDT against simulated forces along with a few high-ranking officers within the Imperium military to oversee the project and how it would fare in combat. One officer in particular was Admiral Fayren, whom was there to record the event, Admiral Fayren is considered a prodigy and ascended the ranks of the Imperial Navy rapidly and soon enough became an admiral at a, comparatively, young age compared to the others with many medals earned over the years. Since then, he has faithfully served the Imperium for another 10 years since his ascension to admiral and continues to serve the Imperium while also becoming more encouraged to do so since the return of their God-Emperor and the mark of a new age. However, age has caught up to him with strands of graying black hair on his head and beard appearing to show for it, and his age had effectively crippled him from doing any battle on the field much to his incredible displeasure.

Now though, the simulation begins as the ceiling of the dome opens up and drops an ODDT, bringing up dust from the impact. The appearance of an ODDT is similar to an ODP but a more miniature sized version of it standing at approximately 100 meters in height and 20 meters in width made of Titanium-A materials with a platform to hold all weaponry that was directed by an onboard A.I alongside two platforms for aircraft. The ODDT was armed with four large energy weapons cannons which was basically an enlarged version of the M6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Cannon, or the 'Spartan Laser', attached to the underside of the platform meant for heavily armored targets along with one mini MAC to intercept starships within the atmosphere. Twelve outdated M910 point-defense guns were stationed around the upper and under side of the platform to deal with smaller targets both airborne and ground-side capable of shredding the enemy into pieces even with heavy armor due to the fact that the M910s' were meant to be equipped on starships for anti-aircraft and missile defense. Finally, it comes with twelve built-in pods for Imperial marines, with necessary orbital drop training of course, to come along with the ODDT to add a... human touch for a lack of better words to the defense tower and provide support for any civilians or allied forces on the elevated platform with ranged weaponry.

However, in this simulation, the marines weren't included due to the fact that this wasn't an actual combat situation and the scientists wanted to see the power behind an ODDT without a human behind its controls or as its support.

As the A.I running the ODDT started turning the weaponry online two large forces converged on the ODDT's position from the west and east, one being dozens of droids with outdated Imperial marine equipment and vehicles and the other being the Grimm with hundreds of weaker Grimm and dozens more of the stronger type, airborne as well. The M6 cannons fired upon the airborne Grimm since they were getting closer compared to their ground counterparts, larger Nevermores disintegrated in mid-air whilst the M910s' dealt with the smaller units that followed, mowing down the rest of the Nevermores and Griffins before they even got a volley out. Just as the last airborne Grimm fell to the ground, their fellows on the ground caught up and the weapons spurred up once more to deflect the enemy.

Meanwhile, the marine forces cautiously advanced and covered ground slowly compared to their Grimm counterparts that had just blindly rushed in and as they closed in on the ODDT the thermal sensors on the M910s' detected them and started firing upon a squad inside one of the buildings, shredding them and causing the abandoned building to collapse on top two M12 FAV Warthogs, killing another six. The remaining troops rushed to nearby cover while the armored vehicles started unleashing their payload on the ODDT, only causing black marks of soot and the occasional small dent from the focused fire of Scorpion tanks with one becoming lucky and disabling a M910. All of this was for naught as the defenses that weren't engaged with the Grimm started firing upon them, starting with their vehicles that soon became balls of fire, and the infantry turning into scrambled parts of mechanical arms, legs, torsos, and the occasional head that laid around the site.

As the marines fell, the Grimm were about to join them as well as a Deathstalker suddenly had a large steaming gaping hole in its armor that went fully through it and killing it instantaneously. Only the higher types of Grimm remained due to their armor as the lower types were slaughtered by the M910 guns, but even then they were still getting annihilated and as a Beringel managed to get close enough to actually hit the ODDT, it did absolutely nothing and the Beringel was disintegrated immediately soon after by a M6. As the last Grimm was killed, a large buzzing sound went off, and the ceiling opened up to reveal a Goliath that nearly reached the height of the platform when it came down, both M910s' and M6s' fired upon it, causing next to no damage due to all the armor being focused on the front of it and the A.I decided it was finally time to use the mini-MAC. It came up off the highest point on the ODDT, and it spun around, aiming at the charging Goliath that smashed away buildings in its way and fired directly at the armored mask of the Goliath which caused a bright light to appear from the mini-MAC as it fired. After it fired, a streak of light rushed towards the unaware Goliath and struck its head which pierced through the armor and went into its body, causing it to violently implode from within that made a grizzly sight for all the gore spilled around the urban area.

Much of the scientists and military officers there were astonished at the power of the ODDT, and some of the scientists took notes on which parts of the ODDT to improve upon but the majority of them were in awe at the soon-to-be new addition to their growing arsenal.


	2. Jakana R&D (Pt1)

**(Thessaly - Jakana City - Jakana R &D Black Ops Facility)  
(Third Person POV)**

Jakana R&D Black Ops Facility, as it implies in its name, is located within Jakana City, one of the more older cities of Thessaly like the Imperial City or Calados. The facility's information is highly classified to low-ranking troops, only higher echelons of Imperial Military know of the facility, and mid-ranking and high-ranking IOMI officers have access to the facility itself. Due to the high requirement of security clearance, should the facility ever be exposed or the information to be compromised, the entire facility is to evacuate and salvage all data and samples before self-destruction.

Jakana R&D in particular, is dedicated to the world of Remnant, bringing in various samples from said planet to the facility to study, be it for weaknesses or strengths to harvest from. Commander Lyle Reiner, is the current director of the facility, overseeing operations and reporting to Imperial HIGHCOM.

One project in particular that the Commander was overseeing would be that of an Atlesian AI that was extracted from Amity Coliseum during the day of the Fall of Beacon and the attack on Vale itself. It was just barely recovered in time as the AI core was heavily damaged, fortunately Atlesian officials had chalked up her remains as lost during the Grimm invasion.

"Commander," Doctor Woods greeted, not looking away from his terminal. "I've looked over the extent of her damages numerous times, and it is certainly not pretty."

"The recovery of Penny Polendina is a priority Doctor." Commander Lyle told him, hardly an emotion present in his voice. "She is an ally of the Emperor, and we will not return her to Atlas, not with our current relationship with them."

"That's the thing Commander, Miss Polendina can only be 'saved' by her creator, Doctor Polendina." He protested, turning towards Lyle with exhaustion. "We simply do not have the instruments, equipment, and knowledge to recover her!" He waved his hand over the entire lab, several scientists were idle. "Even if we've learned much of this 'Aura' to create suppression devices for them, we have not learned enough of it to work on artificial Aura's." Doctor Woods rubbed his temples in frustration. "Fortunately, her body has been completely reconstructed, but without her AI core or Aura, the body's useless."

Commander Lyle scowled, "Find a way to recover her, or I will find a replacement that will Doctor." He crossed his arms, the two IOMI Commandos behind him stood silent but tense. "Have you tried using members of the Imperial Hunter Division, they no doubt have more knowledge on Aura, correct?"

Doctor Woods snapped his fingers, his eyes widening in realization. "That's it!" He shouted excitedly. "If I can recall, Huntsmen and Huntresses use an incantation to activate a person's Aura within someone. That could possibly work with Miss Polendina here, the reactivation of her soul could possibly revive her."

"Even if the IHD is a part of the Imperial Military now, they're still relatively new and cannot be fully trusted yet." Commander Lyle muttered to himself. "There are a few veteran Hunters that can be trusted, and I have a candidate in mind."

"Who would that be Commander?" He asked hurriedly, the activation of Penny Polendina on his mind only.

" _Qrow Branwen_..."

* * *

 **(Jakana R &D Black Ops Facility)  
** **(Third Person POV - Elsewhere in the Facility)**

While the reactivation of Penny Polendina was elsewhere within the facility, several researchers of the R&D department had work on the various specimen of Grimm held in captivity, Class-Four Forces capturing said Grimm for the sole purpose of finding more weaknesses to the Grimm.

"Quite interesting..." Doctor Lena Harriett muttered to herself, scribbling down notes on the Grimm Beowolf held in a sealed chamber before her. "Specimen #14 has shown significant signs of weakening over the course of two days, reaction time and attack speed has slowed when security forces have entered the chamber to transport #14 to another area." She looked up, moving a stray lock of her brown hair away from her face. "#14 has been deteriorating over the course of several hours on the second day, black particles have been seen peeling off the specimen, and it is now no longer clawing against chamber walls or glass."

Doctor Lena is the leading researcher for all subjects relating to the matters of Grimm from Remnant, having two months worth of research on the Grimm, compiled with information provided from Remnant's own examinations on the Grimm, there was little information on them. Deathstalkers, Beringels, Nevermores, and various other Grimm have lasted longer than the Beowolf in the sealed chamber before the good Doctor, proving that the Beowolf is indeed the most weakest among Grimm-types.

"More information is needed on this specimen," She muttered to herself, tapping her pencil against her chin. "Possible Alpha Beowolf needed for further examination of Beowolf-type Grimm..." She turned towards a pair of IOMI Commandos, lowering her clipboard. "Security, terminate the specimen, I'm done here." She ordered them, and they nodded, moving out the room and next to the Titanium-A doors leading to the sealed chamber.

As Doctor Lena exited the observation room, she ignored the later suppressed sounds of howling and gunfire, with it soon ending, signaling the end of the Beowolf. Various researchers and IOMI Commandos passed by her, each of them looking quite as busy as her as they passed by over a dozen containment chambers holding Grimm of various types.

Deathstalkers rammed their stingers against containment chamber viewing glass, rooms beings adapted to their large size as their type big and small showed the same behavior. Beringels were almost-literally bouncing around in their chambers, raging and pounding on the walls as researchers calmly observed them. A small Nevermore's razor-sharp feathers bounced off the metal walls of their prison, doing it in a likely futile attempt to break out, Griffons showed the same behavior but had their beaks pecking at the glass, as if it could sense the Humans and Abhumans behind the glass. The oddest behavior shown from the Grimm-types were mostly from the sole Goliath in the facility, captured during the Fall of Beacon by multiple Hero-Class forces for 'fun'.

The old and large Grimm merely stood in its chambers, a large room located below the observation floor of Jakana R&D, it clearly unnerved the civilian staff observing it as the Goliath's eyes showed... intelligence and it coincidentally looked straight at a researcher through a ONE-WAY viewing glass, it was also cause for security staff to be cautious around the beast.

Of course, what the staff didn't know was that Salem saw through the very eyes of her own 'children', regardless of them being on another world entirely. Fortunately, Salem couldn't do jack-shit against Thessaly, even if she could have her children gather up on Thessaly, break out, and go on a rampage, she still had to deal with the invasion by Imperial forces in her territory.


End file.
